The German leader has been touring Gulf countries since Saturday to forge energy partnerships in hopes of replacing Russian supplies and easing the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.

Emirati Industry Minister Sultan al-Jaber welcomed a "historic new agreement" that "strengthens the growing energy partnership between the UAE and Germany" when signing the agreement. agreement, in the presence of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, according to the United Arab Emirates news agency, Wam.

Scholz, who met Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, also present at the signing, "welcomed" an agreement on "energy security", Wam added.

The Emirati president later said on Twitter that he had also spoken with Mr. Scholz about "other opportunities for cooperation in areas such as energy security, emissions reductions and climate action".

The agreement signed on Sunday provides for the export of a shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Germany at the end of 2022, then the supply of additional quantities in 2023.

The Wam agency reports a direct delivery of diesel made in September and an agreement to supply up to 250,000 tons per month of diesel for 2023.

Under this agreement, the United Arab Emirates will provide "a cargo of LNG which will be delivered at the end of 2022 and used for the commissioning of Germany's floating LNG import terminal in Brunsbuettel", a sea port in the North.

Emirati state-owned oil company ADNOC made its first-ever direct diesel delivery to Germany in September, and will "supply up to 250,000 tonnes of diesel per month in 2023", according to the same source.

"addiction"

The German leader had previously said that his country was determined never again to be dependent on a single energy supplier.

"Depending on a (single) supplier and depending (also) on his decisions will certainly not happen to us anymore", he underlined.

“With the investments we are making in Germany which will gradually materialize over the next year, we will indeed have a gas import infrastructure which will mean that we will no longer be directly dependent on a specific supplier at the other end. of the pipeline", added the German Chancellor.

In Abu Dhabi, Mr. Scholz also visited a mangrove park with the Minister in charge of climate change of the Emirates, Ms. Mariam al-Mehairi.

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“We need to ensure that the production of liquefied gas in the world is sufficiently advanced so that the strong demand can be met without having to fall back on the production capacities in Russia used so far,” said Mr. Scholz. .

For her part, Ms. al-Mehairi said that the discussions with the German Chancellor will focus, in addition to energy security, also on "climate action and economic growth (...) three pillars that must go hand in hand".

She also reiterated the need for a global "just transition" from fossil fuels to clean energy sources.

Abu Dhabi and Riyadh criticize what they see as "unrealistic" transition models which they say have contributed to the current energy crisis.

On Saturday, Scholz met in Jeddah with Saudi Crown Prince and de facto ruler of the oil kingdom Mohammed bin Salman.

He arrived in gas-rich Qatar on Sunday for talks with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.

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His trip to Qatar, the last leg of his trip to the Gulf, comes the day after the signing of a major contract worth 1.5 billion dollars between this country and the French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies for the development of the largest field of natural gas in the world.

Mr Scholz said such projects were "important".

© 2022 AFP